Sensex ends marginally up

The market, which declined sharply around noon after a shaky start and a subsequent choppy ride, rallied sharply past mid afternoon after State Bank of India came out with better than expected quarterly results. A positive close in Asian markets and a firm trend on the European bourses following too contributed to the rally.

However, with several front line stocks facing strong resistance at higher levels, the market gave up most of its gains and eventually ended just marginally up today.

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The Sensex, which spurted to 17,849.64 in the final hour, a long way up from the day's low of 17,665.89, ended at 17,772.84 with a gain of 24.15 points or 0.14%.

The Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange settled at 5390.20, more than 30 points off the day's high of 5421.05, recording a gain of 8.60 points or 0.16%. Earlier, amid listless trades, the index had drifted down to 5351.40.

Metal, automobile and consumer durables stocks found some support. Select bank, healthcare, oil and power stocks too edged higher.

Realty stocks rebounded after early weakness and ended well off the day's lows, with a few stocks even managing to post notable gains. FMCG and information technology stocks were mostly subdued. Capital goods stocks ended mostly weak.

Hero Motocorp ended nearly 2.5% up. Tata Steel and Sun Pharmaceuticals closed stronger by 2.2% and 2.1% respectively. Sun Pharmaceuticals announced that its consolidated net profit jumped 91% to Rs 668.30 crore on 37% increase in net sales to Rs 2145.13 crore in the December quarter as compared to what it had posted in the corresponding quarter last year.

Hindalco ended nearly 2% up. Mahindra & Mahindra moved up by 1.8%. Coal India surged nearly 1.5% up.

HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, NTPC, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, GAIL India, Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto also closed on a firm note.

Wipro and Tata Power lost around 2.5%. State Bank of India ended with a loss of 2%. State Bank of India saw a 15.38% surge in net profit to Rs 3263.04 crore in the quarter ended 31 December 2011. However, the bank said, provisions and contingencies jumped 17.35% to Rs 2407.42 crore in the said quarter, as compared to the quarter ended 31 December 2010. Gross non performing assets increased to 4.61% as on 31 December 2011, from 3.17% as on 31 December 2010, while net NPAs rose to 2.22% from 1.61% during the same period.

Cipla, Larsen & Toubro and Maruti Suzuki ended lower by 1.5 %- 1.9%. Bharti Airtel and Tata Consultancy Services closed with modest losses.

Reliance Infrastructure, up 5.2%, was the top gainer in the Nifty index. Sesa Goa gained 4.5% and Kotak Bank finished with a gain of a little over 4%. Reliance Power moved up on impressive results. Power Grid Corporation and Siemens also closed on a firm note.

SAIL drifted down by over 3%. BPCL, Punjab National Bank, Ambuja Cements, Ranbaxy Laboratories and IDFC closed with sharp to moderate losses.

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Britannia Industries vaulted to a new all-time high on strong results. Sun TV Network, CESC, Suzlon Energy, Pantaloon Retail and Bharati Shipyard all declined sharply on weak results.

The market breadth was slightly positive. Out of 2971 stocks traded on BSE, 1496 stocks moved up. 1381 stocks declined and 94 stocks ended flat.